Jia-yi Zhi ’29 and Sophia Zhan ’28 perform “The Darkness Around Us is Deep.”
The Unusual Weather dance performance took place in the Pan Athletic Center (Pan) on Friday and Saturday evening. Dance Instructor Katie Clark choreographed the entire performance for Dance as a Sport.
The performance featured ten dancers across four pieces: “Odds Are…,” a ballet quintet; “Shifting Currents, Rising Tides,” a contemporary quintet; “The Darkness Around Us Is Deep,” a contemporary duo; and “Adrift,” a contemporary piece featuring the full cast. Clark elaborated on the broader themes of the show and of specific pieces.
“The show was loosely based on themes of perseverance and the complexities of what it means to navigate a hardship of some kind. An image that the ballet piece was loosely based on was the game of chess. We strayed away from that as the process continued, but it started as the idea of conflict and odds of something going dramatically differently from moment to moment. The second piece, I played with the image of the ocean and mostly focused on how powerful the ocean is and how scary and just an entity that it is,” said Clark.
Anastasie Sycheva ’29, who danced in two pieces, discussed how dancers in “Shifting Currents, Rising Tides” used motion to symbolize the ocean.
“In one of the main dances I was in, there was a part where we were a clump, and we were rocking back and forth to show this metaphor to the ocean, how there are waves and shifting tides. Our piece was called ‘Shifting Currents, Rising Tides,’ which really reflects the changing times right now with a metaphor to the ocean. They were just these beautiful pieces with a lot of emotion. It was clear that everyone in the show put a lot of effort in,” said Sycheva.
At the beginning of every rehearsal, the class had a routine playlist and warm-up to set the mood before a practice or a performance. Liv Davis ’29 appreciated this tradition and the community it built.
“We always have warm-up classes. You spend so much time together that if you’re not friends with other people, it gets boring, and it often takes some of the fun out of performing. You’re part of such a great performance, so it’s not necessary to become friends, but it definitely makes the process so much easier and much more fun. You really bond in tech week, [and it] is a big one because you spend so much time together. But also on stage, it really shows because rather than having five strangers on stage, you have a group of friends all performing and connecting with each other,” said Davis.
Breanna Ren ’29 described the dance community and its effect on the performance itself.
“The dance community at Andover is definitely really close and tight-knit. Everyone’s really welcoming and open to trying different things, and as well as really open to helping each other. For the creative part, all of the choreography was done by Ms. Clark, so this is a really special opportunity for her to be able to choreograph and do something so meaningful to her. As a group as well, we got to understand how we dance and to know what each other are good at,” said Ren.
Spending the same amount of time together as many varsity sports, Clark recognized their growth as a group and how it reflected on stage.
“By the time we reach the stage, this small group of dancers has been through so much together. They have just worked so hard for it. They do bond. It is an intimate experience. In all of the pieces, no matter what size, they really, when they step onto the stage, they’re doing so much. They’re feeling each other in the space, and they’re trying to be aware of each other spatially, but energetically as well,” said Clark.
Ren reflected on the close connections built among dancers throughout the process.
“The entire thing itself is such an important memory, and we have a lot of dance or performance opportunities throughout the entire year at Andover. Something special in this one is that it’s such a comparatively smaller group of people, and you get to know every single one of them. Before the performance, everyone is prepping each other, saying good luck. Bonding with each of them through this opportunity is so nice, as well as how much closer I’ve gotten to Ms. Clark through this performance,” said Ren.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on June 5, 2026, to correct factual errors.
